The Academy's decision to overlook Spider-Man: No Way Home in the "Best Picture" race at this year's Oscars hasn't gone down well, and a superfluous "Oscars Fan Favorite" Twitter poll has done little to make amends. Now, Samuel L. Jackson - who starred in 2019's Spider-Man: Far From Home - has expressed his frustration with the threequel being snubbed.
"They should have an Oscar for the most popular movie," he said when asked about Spider-Man: No Way Home being overlooked despite critical acclaim and a $1.8 billion box office haul. "Because that’s what the business is about. It did what movies did forever - it got people to a big dark room."
"All movies are valid. Some go to the cinema to be moved dearly. Some like superheroes." Jackson continued. "If somebody has more butts on seats it just means your audience is not as broad. There are people who have had successful careers but nobody can recite one line of their parts. I’m the guy who says shit that’s on a t-shirt."
Jackson was nominated for his role in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, but lost out to Ed Wood star Martin Landau. Reflecting on this, the Secret Invasion star said, "[Maybe] I should have won one. But Oscars don’t move the comma on your cheque - it’s about getting asses in seats and I’ve done a good job of doing that."
Unfortunately, there's no sign of the Academy changing its attitude towards superhero movies, which is no great surprise when most of its members have publicly criticised the genre or outright despise it! As for Jackson, he's a bona fide icon, and hasn't needed an Oscar on his shelf to cement that fact.
Spider-Man: No Way Home releases on Digital on March 22 and physical platforms on April 12.
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